An Old Song, But Let's Sing It Again
Oh, good. Here we go again.
The GOP wants to keep the House by focusing on abortion, guns, and gay marriage. We're in the middle of a "boom" with record low consumer confidence, record high foreclosures, and real income in the same place they were the last time a Bush was president. We're in an absurd, ill-advised war that the GOP's leader says has no chance of ending while he's in office. New stories emerge every week about violations of our civil liberties, one after another with such frequency that they don't have time to fully register before being replaced with a new horror. But abortion, guns, and gays are the issues that the Republican party feels should be in the front of our minds when we vote.
Q: How stupid do the Republicans think I am?
A: They don't care how stupid you are. They aren't talking to you.
Get it? It doesn't matter how stupid you are. All that matters is that there are stupid people out there. They exist in a certain number and, if they're eligible to vote and motivated to do so, are capable of swinging elections great and small. That's why Republicans aren't even bothering to try and sway you with real ideas and policies.
All they have to is get the small percentage of stupid people off their couch while you stay on yours. It doesn't matter why you stay on your couch--disgust with "all the bums in Washington," or apathy, thinking your vote doesn't matter. It just matters that you do. The whole game depends on low (but targeted) voter turnout.
That's why Republicans are the most craven power-grabbers you can imagine. Because even if they really do believe what they're selling--that unregulated gun ownership is vital to a republic and that abortion is murder and gay people do threaten a moral way of life--the very fact that they prioritize these lesser issues in face of genuine crisis shows an unbelievable cynicism. It shows us what they're willing to do to win.
This, I want to believe, is the way for Democrats to take back the country. Stand up and point to abortion and gun control and gay marriage and flag burning and say, "At this moment in our history, this is what they feel is important. As for the rest of your world, there is absolutely nothing about which they feel is even worth speaking. Abortion, guns, and gays are not just their family values, they are their ONLY values."
We need to overwhelm the stupid people with voters interested in self-preservation.
Republicans like to say that Democrats have no ideas, save blind opposition. Well, when things are as bleak as they are right now, the party in power has to have some ideas, too. And they'd better come up with something better than a flag-burning amendment.
The GOP wants to keep the House by focusing on abortion, guns, and gay marriage. We're in the middle of a "boom" with record low consumer confidence, record high foreclosures, and real income in the same place they were the last time a Bush was president. We're in an absurd, ill-advised war that the GOP's leader says has no chance of ending while he's in office. New stories emerge every week about violations of our civil liberties, one after another with such frequency that they don't have time to fully register before being replaced with a new horror. But abortion, guns, and gays are the issues that the Republican party feels should be in the front of our minds when we vote.
Q: How stupid do the Republicans think I am?
A: They don't care how stupid you are. They aren't talking to you.
Get it? It doesn't matter how stupid you are. All that matters is that there are stupid people out there. They exist in a certain number and, if they're eligible to vote and motivated to do so, are capable of swinging elections great and small. That's why Republicans aren't even bothering to try and sway you with real ideas and policies.
All they have to is get the small percentage of stupid people off their couch while you stay on yours. It doesn't matter why you stay on your couch--disgust with "all the bums in Washington," or apathy, thinking your vote doesn't matter. It just matters that you do. The whole game depends on low (but targeted) voter turnout.
That's why Republicans are the most craven power-grabbers you can imagine. Because even if they really do believe what they're selling--that unregulated gun ownership is vital to a republic and that abortion is murder and gay people do threaten a moral way of life--the very fact that they prioritize these lesser issues in face of genuine crisis shows an unbelievable cynicism. It shows us what they're willing to do to win.
This, I want to believe, is the way for Democrats to take back the country. Stand up and point to abortion and gun control and gay marriage and flag burning and say, "At this moment in our history, this is what they feel is important. As for the rest of your world, there is absolutely nothing about which they feel is even worth speaking. Abortion, guns, and gays are not just their family values, they are their ONLY values."
We need to overwhelm the stupid people with voters interested in self-preservation.
Republicans like to say that Democrats have no ideas, save blind opposition. Well, when things are as bleak as they are right now, the party in power has to have some ideas, too. And they'd better come up with something better than a flag-burning amendment.
posted by Matthew at 9:14 PM
<< Home